Helping to steer Longford into the future

It means a greater emphasis on reliability of facilities to enable greater field-mix optimisation. It’s the kind of work environment that Longford’s first female Operations Supervisor, Liz Anderson, feels right at home in.

In her previous role, Liz was the Surveillance and Start-up Engineer for the new Longford Gas Conditioning Plant. With the increasing sour gas production from new deeper fields, the Gas Conditioning Plant is pivotal to optimising Longford’s overall output.

“Reliability of the Gas Conditioning plant is key to our future success,” said Liz. “Since it started last year we are also continuing to see more innovative ideas for integrating it into our overall processing complex in order to optimise our feed gas and therefore longevity of sales gas production.”

Liz’s career journey towards the role of Operations Supervisor at Longford began in the same vein as many individuals in the oil and gas industry, gaining a Bachelor of Engineering.

However, while her four years at Monash University might have imbued her with the technical knowledge and skills to kick-start her career, it has been the amazing experiences and people she has encountered on the job that have helped lead her to her current role.

After starting at ExxonMobil Australia as an Instrument Electrical Engineer in the Maintenance and Reliability Group, she had the immediate opportunity to work on offshore platforms and at the Longford and Long Island Point Plants, where seasoned Instrument and Electrical Technicians mentored her on-site. They provided valuable insights into plant processes through critical function testing and safety integrity reviews.

Liz said she was attracted to the operational side of engineering from moment she stepped into a plant.

“I have always enjoyed getting into the nuts and bolts of operating a plant, particularly because it gives me the opportunity to collaborate and learn from a range of team members with different skill-sets and backgrounds,” she said.

Her desire to delve into the ‘hands-on’ side of engineering saw her move to Longford full-time as a Surveillance Engineer. In this position, she worked closely with Longford Operations to ensure reliability and optimisation of inlet treating facilities and Gas Plants 1, 2 and 3.

“I really enjoyed the problem solving aspect of this role and the opportunity to work with the shift team to achieve something we didn’t originally think possible,” she said.

“It was the perfect role for me at the time as it enabled me to challenge my technical knowledge and theoretical point of view with the actuals of a plant.”

This experience set Liz up perfectly for her next role on the Gas Conditioning Plant project. In her first major holistic role, Liz was charged with taking the theoretical plant design into implementation mode.

“This role involved extensive planning and troubleshooting throughout the start-up process which definitely had its challenges,” she said.

“I always felt supported by the close-knit team of maintenance and operations who all worked together towards the common goal of transitioning a new plant from development to base business, and making sure we were setting up Longford Plants for future long-term success.”

Having developed a taste for the operations and maintenance team environment, Liz then made the transition into Operations as a Shift Supervisor in late 2017.

“My managers at Longford have supported me to achieve and experience as much as possible, so much more than I expected when starting as a graduate engineer seven years ago” she said.